


Trying Again - Year One

by immortalje



Series: Trying Again [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, M/M, Soulmates, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-18
Updated: 2012-01-15
Packaged: 2017-10-29 15:12:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/321237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/immortalje/pseuds/immortalje
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Having won the war against Voldemort at great losses, Harry and Neville decide to travel back in time to fix things. The most important task? Develop their soulmate bond and the possibilities it opens.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> 1) This was written for the bigbangbuffet on Livejournal and finished in February 2011.  
> 2) A sequel should be finished as I go along with Round 2 of bigbangbuffet.  
> 3) The beginning was beta read by dani_meows. The remaining mistakes (especially in the parts I haven't gotten back yet) belong to me.

The war was won. It had only taken them the better part of six years and the loss of most of their friends. They were not the glorious winners. As a matter of fact, they were utterly defeated, exhausted, world weary and without a purpose.

All together, no matter how short this second war against Voldemort was compared to the first one, there were few wizards left unscathed this time. There were no families left untouched by either injury or death. By the end of the war, every single witch and wizard past their OWLs had chosen one side to fight on.

As it stood, they were only the winners courtesy of still standing, of still being alive while their enemies weren’t. With so many losses, did the victory count for anything at all?

Harry and Neville looked at each other, both thinking they should be relieved – relieved about being alive, about winning and avenging their family and friends. They weren’t though.

No, there was nothing to be relieved about as the war could have been cut short. So many lives could have been spared, so much pain evaded – on both sides.

It was a long standing knowledge that soulmates could combine their magical power and achieve magnificent feats. This could have turned the tides of war, in their favour, early on if they had managed to discover their own bond at the beginning. They would have had time to explore the possibilities, to train their powers and so much more.

They couldn’t even say that it wasn’t known to others – their parents had already known! They had even made a bonding contract because of it. The problem was that they apparently didn’t tell anybody else.

Still, Harry had felt a pull towards Neville at one point, but nothing ever happened as he had been given a love potion before he really had time to think about his feelings. This also had the effect that Neville never really thought about his own feelings.

There was only one thing that Harry knew about the love potion: It was meant to make him fall in love with Ginny, which it had, rather successfully.

Unfortunately, nobody was left alive to tell him why it was done, who did it or who knew about it. The only reason he knew, was the aftermath of his wedding. Death Eaters had crashed it, killing most of the Weasleys and a large part of the Order members. As it was, he had only survived by a whole lot of luck.

The wedding gazebo Harry and Ginny had been standing under had fallen together, burying them under the rubble. Ginny had been hit by one of the beams, killing her instantly, while he had once again been lucky not to be crushed by any of them. On top of that, the Death Eaters had believed him to be dead. It was sheer dumb luck, twice in one go.

While he was still reeling from the shocks of his many losses that day, he'd been put through a very thorough and vigorous medical check up and among a few minor injuries and his shock, had been the remnants of a love potion. Another devastating blow, when he had needed it the least. Not only had he lost his future wife, his family, and most of those he considered his friends, on what had been meant to be the happiest day of his life, but to find out that his feelings for his bride-to-be had not been really his own, was a blow that rubbed salt in his raw and bleeding emotional wounds. For him this moment, had been the worst part of the war, since in one day, his world had come tumbling down.

Still, that wasn’t the point that they had found out about being soulmates. It took time for the rest of the potion to wear of and even longer for his feelings for Neville to emerge again. Not to mention how hard he’d found accepting that after all his crushes on girls (and his near marriage to Ginny) he was in love with a guy had been.

Even then, they had never once realised the truth. It had taken Harry checking his inherited vaults in a desperate attempt to find anything halfway useful to find out about them being soulmates courtesy of the bonding contract. All because of one innocent piece of parchment, hiding what had always contained the key to the prophecy that had been sitting in his vaults, unknown about and untouched.

That was why they had made a decision before this last battle. They had known this would be the last battle as both sides had been far too battered for anything else. Together, they had made the deal that if they won, they would go back in time and fix things to the way they should have gone in the first place.

They were aware of the risks. They knew things could end up being worse, but they were willing to take the risk. Aside from that, they were going into this well prepared and knew what to expect initially. Once they started changing things, would be when the wild cards would appear, and what they knew about things to come would no longer be valid.

It would take about a month for their magic and minds to merge with their younger selves and until then it would be safer to be bystanders observing what their younger selves did. Everything would happen as close to what they remembered had happened as possible. There were a few exceptions to get their changes started, but they had chosen the timing of their arrival well.

They had chosen their 11th birthdays as arrival points, giving them the month until Hogwarts started to take things in and adjust to the past and being in their younger bodies and adjusted magic. Until they arrived at Hogwarts they would have no contact at all, which also had the advantage of keeping this from the people around them. They didn’t want to warn the wrong people after all.


	2. Chapter 1 - The Past

Harry woke up next to the giant figure of Hagrid, in a rather shabby shack. He recognised it, quite easily, as the place where he had first met Hagrid and was told about his wizarding heritage. Such a memory, involving his relatives getting told off, Dudley getting a pig’s tail and finding out about his heritage, was hard to forget after all.

Therefore, he had arrived exactly when they had planned for him to, rather than arriving either too early or too late. He hoped that everything had gone as expected for Neville, as well, as a lot depended on it.

He knew that Neville would go shopping a couple of days after him, as his gran had business in Diagon Alley and was practical enough to combine both. As a part of that business, she managed various investments through Gringotts. This meant that she tended to regularly hand over letters to Gringotts for that very purpose, which was a perfect opportunity to slip in another letter for Gringotts.

Neville had the task to slip in a letter to Gringotts on his behalf, to check both the Potter accounts and the people who’d access to it until now. With Hagrid around, it would be far too risky for Harry to do so, if he wanted to pretend that this was the first time he’d entered or even known about the wizarding world, since his parents’ death.

It also helped, that the Gringotts goblins viewed time travel slightly different than the wizarding world. They knew that it might just be better in some instances and that there was no way for paradoxes to be created since, when using the ritual they had, they would not actually arrive in their own past time line, but create a new alternate universe.

Harry was glad that they had managed to get the help of the goblins in this matter. It still didn’t make goblins the most trustworthy people. They were good in money matters; they were proud of their discretion and security, but that didn’t mean they cared who they were working with.

There was a lot that needed to be done, but first, he needed to merge with his younger self to freshen up those early memories and stabilise their combined magic.

The shopping trip went pretty much the same as Harry remembered. However, there were a few small differences.

At Madam Malkins, after Draco Malfoy had left, and Hagrid waited outside with the ice cream; he had asked for several sets of everyday clothes to be packed along with the uniforms.

Harry also managed to convince Hagrid that a standard trunk just wasn’t suitable and a multi-compartment trunk was more suited to his needs. It was just a simple multi-compartment trunk with three different compartments; all expanded to roughly double their size. It would be extremely practical when it came to packing.

The first compartment would be for clothes with separate areas for shoes, underwear, and accessories like gloves and scarves. The second compartment would be for his books, parchment, quills and ink. There were separate areas for the parchment, quills, and ink to avoid damage to them and an extra cushioning charm for the ink. The last compartment was for all other extra equipment he would need such as his cauldron, potion ingredients and other things that could stain his clothes or books should something break or leak.

He had learned the necessity of this separation during his original years at Hogwarts, when spills had stained some of his clothes so badly, that nothing could clean them again. Not to mention the cuts he had gotten when reaching into his trunk only to find a broken vial, ink pot or other glass shards.

~***~

Thanks to his memories, he didn’t have to search for the entrance to Platform 9 ¾, a month after his shopping trip with Hagrid. Seeing Neville with his grandmother on the platform was also a relief. He hadn’t expected to miss his presence as much as he had. It hadn’t been all too long since they had found out about being soulmates, after all, and most of that was spent preparing for battle and not building a relationship – even with the growing attraction they had felt at the time.

Still, they hadn’t met yet and as such couldn’t greet each other. Focusing on the task at hand, namely lifting his trunk onto the train, Harry picked a door closest to Neville and his grandmother.

He had barely lifted the trunk enough, when he heard a sigh from behind him. This was the only warning he had before the weight of the trunk suddenly disappeared and someone levitated it into the open door.

Once it was securely inside, Harry turned around and noticed Augusta Longbottom with her wand out. Before he could say anything, the older witch said, “Where are your parents? Why aren’t they helping you?”

“My parents are dead and my Muggle relatives hate magic, and thanks for your help,” said Harry, looking to the floor. He didn’t want her to realise that he recognised her and when he had been eleven the first time, this would have embarrassed him.

Harry wondered about the lack of response to that, when suddenly a hand came into his point of view. It pulled his face up and to the side, letting her inspect him. She didn’t say anything though. She didn’t even comment on his scar, which she had clearly noticed. All of a sudden he understood why Neville used to be terrified of disappointing her. She could be rather creepy and intimidating. Tensely, Harry waited for her judgement.

After a moment, she dropped her hand again and took a step back. Nodding slightly in clear approval, she finally said, “Then I’m glad I could help. My grandson, Neville, here is starting his first year as well. Maybe you both could benefit from sharing a compartment.”

Harry nodded in response while Augusta prodded Neville to take a step closer. Obediently, he held out his hands and said, “Neville Longbottom, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Likewise, I’m Harry Potter,” said Harry in return and shook Neville’s hand. All the while they secretly smiled at the early success of their plan. Now the rest just needed to work out.

Turning to Neville’s grandmother, Harry smiled brightly and said, “I think we’re going to be great friends. Thanks again for your help.”

Augusta nodded in acceptance, her stoic face back. She turned to Neville and said, “You should get on the train and find a compartment before they all fill up. Remember to write how your sorting went and frequently after that.”

“I will, Gran,” said Neville.

Taking a deep breath, Augusta said, “See that you do, and I will see you at Christmas.”

There was a last hug and Neville quickly joined Harry on the train. They both winked their goodbye to Augusta Longbttom before pulling their trunk along the corridor to find an empty compartment.

Only when the door was closed behind them, did they openly grin at each other. They were ready for what was to come.

“The letters are safely at Gringotts and I asked them to send the results to me in a second envelope in case your mail is intercepted or otherwise filtered,” Neville said first.

Harry nodded and said, “I think I did a rather convincing job pretending not to know a thing – at least, where it concerns Hagrid and my relatives. Not that it was a hardship, considering my relatives don’t care and Hagrid has no experience whatsoever with introducing anybody to the wizarding world. Also, I felt the last twinges of the merging about a week ago, so I’d say it’s safe to assume that the merge was successful.”

“I felt the last one the day before yesterday. I think I’ll wait a bit longer before making a verdict,” Neville said. After a moments pause, he sobered up a bit and said, “What about Ron, Hermione and the rest of our friends?”

“I’ve thought plenty about this in the last month. I want my friends standing right next to me. On the other hand, neither am I willing to subject them to the dangers I remember going through. Back then when I was their age and didn’t know any better than they did – we simply had no clue how much danger we were in. Now? They’re eleven and even though our bodies are as well, we have the memories and experience of another decade, and we are aware of the danger. I don’t think we should string them along. We certainly wouldn’t have strung along anybody that age before we came back,” Harry said as he leaned back. He sighed and balefully looked out of the window.

Neville slowly nodded in agreement. As much as he missed them, their friends weren’t yet the people they remembered.

“Not to mention – what if we forget they’re just kids and think they know the very same things their older selves knew? That could be rather dangerous to all of us,” Harry added after a while, as he watched the Weasleys arrive at the platform. He could see Molly looking around worriedly, and not just after her kids.

There had been a time when he had wondered about her asking after the platform number and the complaining about Muggles, all those years ago, especially right after his wedding had been crashed. Still, it hardly mattered any more. In the following years, he had learned to accept that he wouldn’t get any answers. In the end, he had decided to believe in the good of his friends and assume that none of it was meant to harm him. Who knows – maybe Dumbledore had asked the Weasleys to be a bit more obvious, after realising Hagrid hadn’t told him how to get to the train. A safe guard in case he hadn’t yet met anybody else that could help him.

Believing this had been part of what kept him strong and mostly, sane. However, it didn’t mean that he wouldn’t be careful though. As Mad Eye Moody had been so fond of saying: Constant Vigilance!

“So, Halloween was our deadline to asking about those contracts, right?” Neville said into the awkward silence that had settled in their compartment.

They might have utilised their bond to fight (as much as they could in the limited time they had to explore the possibilities), but they had never actually discussed the other side of the bond. Least of all the contract – at least not how it would affect them and their relationship.

Nodding slowly, Harry said, “Halloween. Do you think the topic will come up before then?”

Saying Halloween, was a bit like a countdown. Until then, they could happily ignore it, could just pretend that they were nothing more than brothers in arms. It wasn’t even as if he wanted to kiss Neville! There was nothing of the kind. Well, there had been before they came back, his mind quietly reminded Harry. There had been urges to just kiss Neville after a great discovery, after a successful – here Harry stopped. He hadn’t wanted to think of that future any more. It was gone now and thinking back of it constantly was both pointless and asking for trouble.

They were eleven again. He had been 14 when he had had his first crush, 15 when he had first dated – there were years left. It was rather likely that the lack of interest in anything remotely connected to relationships came from their physical age. It was beyond confusing, considering that he had nearly been married. He certainly had experience. Time travel was certainly bizarre and he could see why it was discouraged.

He could see the same thoughts reflected in Neville’s eyes. The same doubts, worries and confusing emotions.

“We could always write your gran right now?” Harry suggested eventually. They were Gryffindors after all. Rush in now and don’t worry about the consequences at least not until the action was done and they were in hot water, having bones mended and quaffing potions.

Neville shook his head, although he clearly liked the idea, and said, “She would be suspicious. These topics just don’t come up that quickly. Maybe once it spreads around that there’s a marriage contract for Pansy and Draco – I’m sure Hermione will have something to say about that.”

Sooner or later they would have to discuss their bond, but for now they still had time.

The solitude was interrupted when Ron entered their compartment, followed shortly thereafter, by the train starting to move. Clearly nervous, Ron asked, “Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full.”

Neville and Harry readily nodded and invited their former, and hopefully future, friend in. By an unspoken agreement, they decided to at least help their once best friends develop in a direction that would be helpful to them. Even if they didn’t maintain as close of a friendship as they’d maintained before, it would be helpful to both them and Ron to help him gain confidence in himself – not to mention making Hermione relax a bit more and gain some social skills.

But first, Harry was in desperate need to be introduced to the wizarding world – what better way was there than to have Ron explain Quidditch to him all over again. They even managed to control themselves when they first noticed Scabbers. They had a plan for him as well and they had made the plans to not only follow said plans, but to insure a more successful capture of a certain rat. This time he would not escape justice.

The only downside of the entire ride was that Hermione didn’t visit them, considering that Neville had left Trevor at home who therefore couldn’t get lost which in turn meant that Hermione wasn’t helping Neville by asking if anybody had seen a toad.

Still, there would be plenty of time left to befriend her.

~***~

Arriving at Hogwarts was just as they remembered it – from walking up a dark path until they spotted the castle for the first time to the trip across the lake and being greeted by McGonagall. Even the ghosts and Ron’s thoughts on the sorting were the exact same. The only difference was Neville’s inclusion in Ron and Harry’s conversation which just made things eerie. It was as if they were in a pensive and actually able to interact with people instead of just watching.

Eventually, McGonagall led them into the Great Hall. Harry could hear Hermione talk about the ceiling and took a moment to look at it. Last time he’d been too nervous to properly appreciate it. When they finally stopped in front of the four-legged stool with the Sorting Hat on top, Harry wondered if this would be a point where the past changed already. He had nearly been sorted into Slytherin once, and although he had accepted this side of him by now, being put there would endanger several of their plans.

Harry was so lost in his thoughts about how the war had honed his more cunning side that if it hadn’t been for the applause Harry wouldn’t have noticed that the Hat had finished its song and that McGonagall had started calling out names. So far, everybody was placed into the same houses Harry remembered them being in.

Finally, it was time for Neville to be sorted. He didn’t stumble and the Sorting Hat, while still taking its time didn’t need as long as it had the first time. At least it felt like less time. Neville also remembered to pull off the Sorting Hat before rushing over to the Gryffindor table.

The first surprise came with Draco Malfoy. What had originally been a really quick sorting, actually took a moment this time. Not a whole lot longer than the original sorting, but not as short either. Even more curious was that Draco didn’t have a smug look about him, but rather looked confused. Within a second the look was gone and the smug look appeared again, but it was obvious, at least to Harry who’d spent much of his Hogwarts years and beyond studying the boy, that this was merely a front to keep the original confusion hidden. Had the meeting on the train or even the slightly altered meeting at Madam Malkin’s made a difference? Or did the Sorting Hat itself see something in Neville’s memories that made it think more about its decision when it came to Draco Malfoy?

Nothing else changed until he was called up. He felt the stares and heard the whispers of everyone and tried to behave like the frightened and shy eleven year old boy he’d been once upon a time during his first sorting.

As the Hat was lowered onto his head, Harry was prepared to plead if necessary, when the Hat said, “Don’t worry. I already had a word with your time travelling friend about your plans. I can see your previous sorting and agree with the assessment that you would do well in Slytherin, as you’ve obviously realised and accepted by now. I also agree that it might harm the future more than the changes you have planned will ever be able to.”

Harry felt as if the Hat above him was smiling smugly, when instead of elaborating it simply called out loudly for everybody to hear, “GRYFFINDOR!”

The rest of the sorting passed just as he remembered it, although Ron seemed a bit put out about his sorting, and a tad bit less relieved, as he originally had been. Then again, Harry might be wrong about that. He hadn’t paid it all too much attention back then, having been equally relieved that his new found best friend had been sorted into the same house.

Nothing else even gave even a hint of having been changed. The feast was still the same (as had every welcoming feast he had ever been present for as a matter of fact). Dean still asked Sir Nick how you could be nearly headless – along with the same face of regret laced with nausea, as soon as they had been shown – and Dumbledore still warned everybody of the dangers contained in the third floor corridor without being specific.

Quirrell still gave him a headache and this time he knew better than to attribute it to Severus Snape. Knowing all this now, he didn’t turn to Percy to ask for the Professor’s name and it actually allowed him to see the look Snape was giving Quirrell. Smiling to himself and slightly shaking his head, Harry realised that this was probably the moment when Snape first suspected that something was wrong with the Defence teacher.

Focusing his attention back on the conversation around him, Harry reminded himself that this wouldn’t matter. They had decided not to investigate the corridor, the stone or anything related to it. That didn’t mean they wouldn’t keep an eye on it, especially towards the end of the year, but they wouldn’t turn it into an adventure. Not if it could be avoided. This time he would be less indulging of his Gryffindor side and indulging of his Slytherin side.


	3. Chapter 2

A week into classes Harry was already tired of it all. The classes bored him as the majority of them were mostly theory this early on. The few spells they practiced took a while to master, giving him at least something to focus on as he trained the newly combined magic. It didn’t take as long as the first time around as there was some kind of memory, but not all of his magic remembered how to cast the spell and had to get used to it.

Not that this was a bad thing. Actually, it was rather useful as it prevented them from showing too much skill. Surely someone would get suspicious if they managed to get most spells on the first try and he doubted that Neville and he would manage to hide their knowledge very well if they had to. They just weren’t subtle enough for it.

Hermione had turned out to be a troubling front. It quickly became apparent that she didn’t like being challenged in class when it came to skills and knowledge. Especially by someone who didn’t study quite as much as she did. This also made it difficult to approach her. It appeared that her lack of friends had made her build a wall around her to protect herself and this just made it all the harder for her to find friends. Not that she seemed to realise that.

Ron was another matter. Harry wondered why he had never noticed this the first time around, but Ron was rather possessive of his friendship with him. He was constantly trying to keep the other boys at the sidelines of their friendship. Sure, they did things as a group, but if it was just Ron, Neville and him or any other combination that contained Harry, Ron tried with all his might to be the sole focus of Harry.

Surely, with all the siblings Ron had, he had learned to share. Harry certainly never felt as if any of the other Weasleys had problems with that. Then again, maybe this was exactly the point. This friendship was something Ron didn’t have to share with his brothers. This was something of his own. Sharing with anybody else was once more like sharing with his brothers. Whatever it was, Harry hoped it would change as Ron grew older.

The only other highlight of the week had been Potions. Well, a highlight in the negative sense that is. Harry had been prepared this time. Not just for the questions he remembered, but any other possible question he could be asked. As such, he had answered every question correctly. The best thing to do to get on Snape’s good side, right?

Far from it, Snape had been pissed of at the questions being answered correctly, just as much as he had been at the wrong answers. Guess there was no way to please this man currently. Still, the rest of the class he had been ignored by the Potions Masters. On top of that, he had actually paired up with Neville. The confidence they had gained throughout the years in combination with a thorough preparation had led to their potion neither exploding nor melting the cauldron.

Ron and Seamus, who had paired up as well, hadn’t been as lucky. Before Hermione, sitting between their two groups, could interfere he had had added the Porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off of the fire just as Neville had originally done to melt the first of many cauldrons. He only hoped that this didn’t mean that Ron would turn into Neville when it came to potions.

~***~

On the second Saturday of the year, Neville finally received an owl from Gringotts. The envelope was rather thick and after a quick nod to Harry he let it disappear into his pockets.

Ass soon as they were done with breakfast, they told everybody that they would be heading to the library. Most of their classmates would wait at least until lunch before starting their homework and therefore wouldn’t follow them. Hermione was the only exception, but she wasn’t speaking with them currently. It was as if they insulted her by getting the practical parts this quickly. She didn’t seem to realise that this didn’t mean they necessarily understood the theory any better than her – even with their additional knowledge. They just were better with the practical work.

As soon as they reached the library, Hermione walked off towards the right where the potions texts were kept. Shrugging to each other, Harry and Neville turned the other way to snatch one of the window seats. They had the added advantage of being warded with silencing charms to allow group work without disturbing anybody else and a lack of portraits that might spy on them.

Without further ado, Neville pulled out the letter and opened it. As requested, it contained another letter which seemed even thicker than the original one had been if that was possible. Then again, this was the wizarding world and Harry and Neville knew that this was actually quite possible.

When Harry opened his letter he simply emptied it onto the table. The first time he had gone to Gringotts and actually inquired about his vault he had gotten an entire ledger. Sadly it had only contained about five years worth of transactions, missing the first few years of Hogwarts. The ledger had been a bit larger than the current letter was though, suggesting to him that it had an enlargement on the inside as well.

Indeed, the expected ledger slipped out along with a small box and a letter.

 _“Dear Mister Potter,_

 _I received the missive delivered through the Longbottoms. You are indeed right that we assumed that you were fully aware of your complete accounts and who had access to what part of your inheritance._

 _It will relief you that the audit of your accounts didn’t show any further discrepancies that we could find and aside from you, only me, as the responsible accountant and Albus Dumbledore, as your magical guardian, have access to it._

 _I myself merely used the specified amount set aside by your parents for investments per the instructions I received prior to their death._

 _Albus Dumbledore in return removed about 200 Galleons a month, the allotted stipend for raising you as, once again, decreed by your parents which he then transferred to muggle currency and transferred to your relatives whom, as far as I’m aware of, you resided with. This was handled by him personally as Gringotts cannot transfer regular amounts of money into the muggle world._

 _The only other transaction is your yearly payment for Hogwarts._

 _If you have any further questions that might not have been answered in the letter or in the future you already lived through, please set up a meeting with me to discuss them. The same goes for any other matters you think I should be aware of._

 _Lastly, the box you will have no doubt noticed contains various things your parents wished for you to have when you started school as well as letters they left for you. All you have to do is tap it with your wand to enlarge it._

 _Goldbone”_

Harry smiled wryly. At least now he knew for sure that everything was alright with his accounts. It also countered some of the worries he had about Dumbledore. Then his smile vanished as he realised just what the box contained.

He had read the letters from his parents before, when he had first received them. They explicitly stated that Peter Pettigrew was the Secret Keeper and a photo of both him and his animagus form. It was the one thing that could have changed everything so much sooner.

Looking up at Neville, Harry grinned widely. Despite how much the content of the box and especially the letters got to him, they were also just what they needed for their plan to free Sirius. Quickly tapping the small box, he said, “We’re going to catch a rat tonight.”

Neville returned his grin as he realised what Harry meant.

A quick check of the box revealed that the box contained most of the things that Harry thought it would. Some weren’t present, but he figured it was due to his age and nothing else. Still, he didn’t require the majority for his plans anyway. They were just good to have.

Finding the letters in between, he quickly opened them. After a quick look over the letter to find them identical to the ones he remembered, he nodded to himself before focusing on the photographs that had fallen onto the table when he opened the letters.

One showed a young Peter Pettigrew and was taken no later than a couple of years after graduation. The second one showed him as a rat, all toes still intact.

“Guess I’ll throw a temper tantrum tonight in our dorm. You can then show everybody the pictures and hopefully Ron will recognise Scabbers. Or at least remark about how similar they look,” Harry said with a satisfied smile.

Neville was more hesitant. This was one of many things they could change early on that made the new time line stray from the one they knew. It was beyond risky. On the other hand, they both had agreed that Sirius would know about their trip to the past and they really could use an adult in the know. It would help their plans along. Besides that was why they had comer to the past – to change things.

Then again, the more they changed early on, the more things would differ and what they knew of vital events would be useless. With Sirius being legally freed, Harry wouldn’t have to stay with the Dursleys – this would actually impact Dobby doing magic to get Harry into trouble, Marge Dursely being blown up would probably not happen and the Dementor attack, if it happened, would most likely end different as well. And that were just a few events affected and they in turn would affect other events creating an ever larger ripple of changes.

In the end, they needed someone they could trust and Sirius was one of the better candidates. Dumbledore shared too little information and had too much faith when it came to reforming his enemies. While a noble trait, they both feared that it might cause him to dismiss the future state and keep them from changing things. As for Neville’s Gran – she was too set into her ways as well. Not to mention that she would have a hard time accepting the truth.

No, Sirius was their best bet.  
To stay true to their excuse, they quickly fetched books and started on their homework. It was an enormous help that they could remember quite a bit of what they learned and the books that would be the most useful. It was far from enough to be done in record time, but it was still enough to greatly speed up the process. An additional time saver was that they split the essays between themselves, looked through the books and noted down where the information was written so the other only had to read the specific parts.

Therefore it was little wonder that they finished with most of their essays in time for a late lunch.

After having packed everything away, Harry held his parents’ letter in one hand, pretending to have just received it, and left the library with Neville. As soon as they had left the library, Harry started complaining – he wouldn’t want the ire of Madam Pince on him this early after all.

“Can you believe it? They were betrayed by their own friend! One would think friendship counted for more than that,” started Harry, never really stopping this tirade aside from letting Neville voice a couple of affirmative words.

This went on until they sat down for lunch next to the rest of their year that were still at lunch. Predictably, Ron was amongst them. After pushing a forkful of mash into his mouth, he asked, “What’s up? Did you get bad news?”

“Gringotts just sent me a letter my parents had left for me,” explained Harry furiously, “In it they tell me that they were hiding under something called the Fidelius Charm which kept their location from everybody not in the know. Their trusted friend was the Secret Keeper and they say if he’s dead than he betrayed them!”

“They also left him with pictures of Peter Pettigrew, both in his human form and his animagus form,” added Neville, nicking Harry’s letter with the images and showing them around.

Indeed, Ron was the first to say, “This looks like a normal rat. Just like Scabbers. Only he’s missing a toe.”

“That’s stupid. Peter Pettigrew is dead. He was killed by Sirius Black 10 years ago. The only thing they ever found was a finger!” Hermione interrupted.

Harry shrugged and said, “Well, my parents say nobody knew about him being able to turn into a rat – so maybe he used that to fake his death. Cutting of his finger would be just a small price.”

“Who knows, maybe he is Scabbers,” Dean suggested.

Ron immediately discounted the idea by saying, “I doubt that. Scabbers has been in my family for 10 years. He used to be Percy’s pet before I got him.”

“A bit long for a normal rat, isn’t it?” Neville said.

Suddenly everybody became quite, looking at each other in wonder.

Eventually, Seamus said, “Maybe we should take this to Professor McGonagall. Just to make sure, you know.”

Nobody moved.

“I guess I’ll get Scabbers,” Ron eventually said. If Scabbers was really a wizard he wanted to know.

Everybody nodded and together they got up. Harry and Neville avoided looking at each other, afraid they would grin at the success of their plan.

Within no time they had gathered in front of the Transfiguration classroom as this was the most likely place for Professor McGonagall aside from her office which was accessible through a door in the very same classroom.

Slowly they walked into the room, by unvoiced decision Harry and Ron at the top of the formation. To say that their little procession let McoGonagall’s eyebrows rise was an understatement.

“What can I do for you? Surely all of you haven’t gotten into trouble yet?”

Harry swallowed nervously, before saying, “I got a letter today. Apparently Gringotts had a letter my parents left me and… The letter says that their Secret Keeper was someone called Peter Pettigrew and that he could turn into a rat. Ron noticed the similarities to his own pet rat Scabbers which has been his family for 10 years and it’s missing a toe…”

“And Hermione said that all that was ever found of Peter Pettigrew was a finger…,” Ron said.

Seamus said, “We wondered if you could make sure that Scabbers isn’t Pettigrew.”

As proof for what they said, Harry handed over the letter with the pictures and Ron placed Scabbers onto the table. Within a second of having let go of him, the rat tried scurrying off of it. Harry quickly grabbed him and held onto the struggling rat.

Meanwhile, McGonagall had pulled her wand and was checking out the pictures. A quick look at Scabbers had a frowning. Quickly she conjured a cage and said, “Please place him in here.”

Harry quickly did as told and soon after, McGonagall cast a revelation spell at the rat. It was the same one Harry remembered Remus using the first time around and indeed, within seconds the rat was transforming into the bald man he recognised as Peter Pettigrew. He was fatter than in the picture his parents had provided him as well as older, but still clearly recognisable.

Before he could do anything, McGonagall had stunned him. There was a steely glint in her eyes as she said, “Thank you for bringing this to my attention. If you wait here, I’ll fetch the Headmaster.”

For good measure, she quickly bound him in robes as well before she hurried to her office. As soon as she was gone everybody began talking. Despite their worry, they hadn’t really thought it would be true. After all, what where the chances of a dead man living amongst them without being a ghost?

Everyone speculated about why he would hide as a rat for all these years. There was barely any connection to his parents, Harry noted. It seemed that as far as the wizarding world was concerned he had absolutely nothing to do with Sirius Black and neither did anybody care to connect the confrontation between Sirius and Peter two days after Voldemort was defeated.

It didn’t take long for McGonagall to return. She was followed by Albus Dumbledore who took one look at the bound wizard before turning to the students.

“Aurors will be here shortly. I’m afraid they will have a couple of questions about what happened and how you figured out that one of your pets was actually an animagus,” Dumbledore said. After a moment’s pause, he said, “You’re welcome to take seats until then and can I offer any of you a lemon drop?”

Out of their group, Ron was the only one to immediately accept as most of them were too much in awe of Dumbledore. Seeing one of them accept though, made Dean, Seamus and Parvati change their minds though. Harry wanted to take Dumbledore up on his offer, but didn’t dare let himself be distracted by it.

They all picked seats on the right side of the room, silently talking amongst each other. Harry never let Dumbledore, McGonagall or Pettigrew out of his eyes. This was a crucial moment.

Right now they were silently conversing, occasionally looking at Pettigrew, the letter still on the table as well as Harry and Ron. It was clear that McGonagall was retelling how Pettigrew had been discovered. They might just discuss the possibilities of just what this discovery might mean.

For a second Harry wondered if it was Pettigrew’s survival that had made Dumbledore believe Sirius’s innocence originally. For all he knew, he had been in doubt about Sirius’ guilt until the confrontation that supposedly ended with Pettigrew dead.

Quickly he wiped that thought out of his mind. It didn’t really matter what happened back then. What mattered was that the guilty party would be convicted and the innocence of Sirius being declared.

Harry started wondering how long the Aurors would need to apparate to Hogsmead and walk up to Hogwarts from there, when the Aurors finally arrived. They were lead by Amelia Bones and amongst the three other Aurors Harry also recognised Kingsley Shacklebolt.

Before all of them had noticed the arrival of the Aurors, Dumbledore was already motioning them over and said, “As you can see, this is the man that was hiding as the pet of one of these students. I dare say that this is actually Peter Pettigrew who has been believed to be dead for a decade now. He has been stunned.”

Amelia nodded in understanding and motioned one of the Aurors, Whitaker, to check Pettigrew. She then turned to the students and said, “If you could please talk with Aurors Shacklebolt and Harris and answer their questions about what happened. They will talk to you one by one. You don’t have to worry about anything and can leave as soon as you’re done.”

The two Aurors in question nodded at Bones and walked over to them. Bones and the last Auror meanwhile went over to talk with McGonagall and Dumbledore.  
The first to be questioned was Seamus, followed by Dean, Parvati, Lavender and Hermione. Then it was Ron’s turn. He was visibly upset when he told them about Scabbers being in the family for so long. As soon as the Auror’s were finished with him, Shacklebolt turned to the teachers and asked, “We probably should talk with Percy Weasley as well. Find out how he got the rat and if he ever noticed anything strange.”

“Of course, I will get him right away,” said McGonagall, excusing herself.

Then it was Harry’s turn.

“What exactly happened?” Shacklebolt said once again, as he had asked everybody else.

Harry took a deep breath to calm himself down and said, “Well, Neville and I went to the library after breakfast to start on our homework. While there I got a letter from Gringotts that contained a letter by my parents they wanted me to have once I started Hogwarts in the case of their death. I had decided that it could wait until lunch, so I opened it as we were finished. It contained to pictures of Pettigrew, one as a wizard and one as a rat. The letter said he was their secret keeper and that if they were dead he probably had betrayed them.

“I must have ranted all the way down to the Great Hall about it and when we sat down the others asked what was up so Neville showed them pictures while I told them what I had just found out. Ron thought the rat looked a bit like Scabbers, only with all of the toes still in tact and Hermione mentioned how Peter Pettigrew was dead any way. She also said that only a finger was left… somehow one of us suddenly wondered if Scabbers really was Peter Pettigrew so we fetched Scabbers and brought him along with the letters to Professor McGonagall. Just to be sure, since none of us wanted to live with a rat that was really a grown wizard.”

“Understandable. And very commendable that you went to a teacher with that,” Shacklebolt said before turning to Neville, “I assume your story will be very similar. Do you have anything to add?”

“Harry pretty much summed it up,” Neville said quickly. After a moment he said, “He received the letter and decided to get homework out of the way so he could take all the time he wanted for it and read it right before we left the library. He waited to rant until we left the room, it’s a library after all, but as soon as we were out he started complaining about how their friend could betray his parents. He was still ranting when we reach the Great Hall for a late lunch and when the others wanted to know what was up I snatched the letter and pictures out of his hands to show around. I figured it’d be easier to understand than Harry ranting.”

“After a short discussion, everybody decided to get Scabbers and ask Professor McGonagall if she could check if he was a real, if long living, rat or an animagus,” Nevile said.

Shacklebolt nodded in understanding and said, “Not everybody would have thought to go to a teacher with this. I for one am very glad that all of you did.”

“What will happen now? Hermione said that a Sirius Black killed Peter Pettigrew, but if Pettigrew is still alive – what will be done about that?” Harry said.

The two Aurors looked at Harry in surprise. Clearly they hadn’t thought that far ahead. After a quick glance to the other group in the room, Shacklebolt said, “I will have to ask Madam Bones as she’s the one in charge of this. If you’re fine with it, I’ll ask if she can inform Professor McGonagall of this who will then be able to pass the information on to you.”

“That’ll be fine,” Harry said happily. There was no need to hurry.

Shacklebolt smiled at them and said, “You can join your classmates now. I’m sure you have other things planned for today.”

Harry and Neville nodded in understanding and left. They would prefer to stay and find out what would be done next, but they also knew better than to disobey. Officially, they didn’t know anything aside from Pettigrew betraying the Potters and being alive when he had been believed to be dead.


	4. Chapter 3

In the time leading up to Halloween, news about Pettigrew and Sirius were sparse. McGonagall had let him know about results of the initial interrogation with truth serum. Naturally, the results had been exactly what Harry had expected. She had also informed him that Pettigrew was to stand trial and that Sirius had been transferred to St. Mungos.

A couple of days later there was an article about this in the Daily Prophet with official statements from the Ministry and Dumbledore.

The latest update was that Sirius wished to take up guardianship once he was released and, of course, to meet him. Harry was excited about that even though he was sure that Sirius would, once again, ask him if he wanted to leave his current guardians. Not that there was any doubt about it.

As exciting as all this was, the details would be coming later on. Although Sirius was ready to receive visitors, he was not allowed to leave school for those visits – at least not this early in the recovery process of his godfather. Although, there was the possibility of visiting during the Christmas holidays, depending on how well recovered Sirius was by then.

There were only two other things that were really noteworthy. The fact that he had, once again and despite plans to the contrary, made the Quidditch team and Hermione becoming insufferable as a result of it.

The irony was that Neville and he had agreed that being on the team wasn’t important enough for anybody to get injured. Instead of Neville it had been Lavender Brown that had gotten injured as her broom shot of in a similar manner has it had done with Neville. As soon as Madam Hooch had left with her, Malfoy had revealed the Rememberall and the rest had been pretty much the same.

In the aftermath, Harry figured that the problem wasn’t a lack of flying skills but the quality of the school brooms. Not that it was any of his business.

His new distraction with Quidditch allowed him less time to study – at least according to Hermione – and it seemed to irritate her that his grades never once wavered.

In the end, he had reached a breaking point and just screamed at her in the common room. He couldn’t say he regretted the location, the words or making Hermione cry. If she managed to tone her behaviour down and take it as a starting point to finally have fun outside of her school work, it was all worth it. Least of all because he knew that this would make life so much easier for Hermione in the long run.

He remembered well how he had told her that you didn’t have to study non-stop to be good and that taken a step back from studying allowed you some distance to the topic instead of over thinking it and missing the trees for the woods. The bigger part of his rant had been though that her attitude kept people away from her and if she wanted real friends she should start to listen to others and find out what interested them instead of pushing her favourite past times onto everybody else.

Nobody had said anything in her defence. Percy might have, had he been present, but nobody else did. Once he had finished the three Chasers had taken Hermione out of the room. Their parting looks didn’t hold any contempt or anger, but small smiles. He had told them about his problem with Hermione and how he wished she wouldn’t reduce herself to school work.

Back then they couldn’t do much, as trying to talk to her would have just made her ignore them. She probably wouldn’t have taken well to Harry putting them up to it and they had no other reason to talk with her. Comforting her however, was a different matter. They could also try and help her see that everybody had different approaches to learning and dividing their time and that the results mattered. Besides, everybody learned differently. She did by reading while he was more the learning by doing type.

The week since then had been a lot calmer. Hermione didn’t say much and didn’t even raise her hand in class. Harry did notice though that she did talk with Lavender and Parvati on occasion and it seemed to be about their families. Sure, the questions seemed to be more about learning how wizarding families lived. Nonetheless, Hermione did get closer to her room mates finding some things they had in common such as a love for pets.

The final week leading up to Halloween had her participate more in class again, but it was still toned down. She also tended to sit with Parvati and Lavender now. The other two girls seemed to have taken Hermione under their wing.

Harry only hoped that it would avoid the disaster of his first Halloween at Hogwarts. They probably couldn’t avoid the troll, but if they could manage to avoid any students missing the feast and therefore not knowing about the troll it would be a huge feat.

The last week before Halloween also brought up an issue they had been avoiding so far. Somehow they had to bring up the topic of marriage contracts and write to Neville’s grandmother who would then hopefully discover that they were soulmates.

Still, that was all for the benefit of the outside world. Independent of that, they would still have to discuss where they wanted to go with this and how fast they would do it. The time of avoidance was running out.

On Halloween, Neville had the most brilliant idea on how to bring the topic up. After all, the Blacks were an old family that still practised marriage contracts. Therefore, it was a valid question if his godfather would want to arrange one once he was officially his guardian.

Hermione naturally thought it barbaric while Dean and Seamus were having fun coming up with the most ludicrous things about potential wives. Surprisingly, Ron seemed to be jealous about it. He told everybody he was glad that his parents didn’t believe in it, but Harry could still catch some jealousy. A possibility was that Neville had mentioned that the richer families and those that otherwise were in the circle of high society did so, but to him that still wasn’t a reason to be jealous about a potential marriage contract. He would have been glad about it actually.

Nonetheless, Harry was sure that Ron would eventually grow out of this.

For added benefit, Harry decided to write Sirius about it on top of Neville writing his gran about finding out if there were any and who would generally know.

Neville’s gran had replied within the week answering all of his questions along with assuring him that there weren’t any she was aware of. However, the question seemed to have sparked something in the elder witch as she mentioned making sure that there weren’t any she hadn’t been told about for whatever reason.

Sirius reply came several days after that and brought the biggest surprise. He had been told that there was a marriage contract, just not with whom and why as both of his parents had been against it originally.

Two days, a Saturday, after Sirius’ letter arrived, both Harry and Neville were called to McGonagall’s office. They felt apprehensive as they were sure that they hadn’t done anything that would get them into trouble. All they could think about was that their secret had been discovered.

So when they entered the office and saw Augusta Longbottom they were rather confused. For once, they wouldn’t expect her to be called in the beginning. No, Dumbledore would probably keep his suspicions to a select few people. The second thing that confused them was the absence of Dumbledore.

They were ushered to the two available chairs and once they had sat down, Augusta said, “Your parents had told me several times that they didn’t believe in marriage contracts which is why I was quite certain that they wouldn’t make one for you. However, your question made me check to negate any doubt. Against my expectations I did find one though.”

With that introduction, Harry and Neville were rather relieved. Nonetheless, they pretended not to know anything.

“What am I doing here? I mean, this is obviously about Neville.” Harry said.

This time it was McGonagall that said, “The other person of the contract is you, Mister Potter. It seems that both of your parents found out that you were actually soulmates and did the contract as a result of that. I understand that it is a lot to take in, but…”

Harry was at a loss of what to say next. The wrong thing might let on that they knew more than they pretended to know. He remembered how he hadn’t known same sex marriages were allowed in the wizarding world until they had found the contract. There had been a great many things about any of the relating issues until then. He decided that it was as good as any point to start with.

“But I’m a guy!” Harry said eventually. The long silence until then helped to convince everybody that this came as a total surprise to him.

Everybody frowned at this and Harry was surprised for a moment why even Neville did so. However, he seemed to catch on quick enough.

Neville said, “I thought Muggles could marry who they wanted? Didn’t Hermione say so, when we talked about the contracts?”

“Generally, they can marry who they want. Nobody tells them who they have to marry – as far as I know that is. But it’s always guys marrying girls and not guys marrying guys or girls marrying girls,” Harry said as if it was the most natural thing in the world. It’s not as if it would ever have been even thought about by the Dursleys.

A quick look around revealed that everybody understood his confusion and saw how it might be different for the non magical world.

McGonagall nodded and said, “I see. Considering that same sex couples have the same options when planning a family with the use of potions and other means, there was never a need to frown upon it the same way Muggles did without that help.”

“Oh,” Harry said with wide eyes. The possibilities of children hadn’t even come up the last time as they had been more focused on other things. He had assumed he would – one day – have children with Ginny once the war was over, but he had never really thought about it; least of all after the wedding disaster.

Augusta coughed to get their attention and said, “I’m sure there is plenty both of you will have to learn about what this contract means for your and what your options are after you graduate. However, there are several years left to learn all that. Much more important is that being soulmate will be able to affect your magic and you should learn how you can control that early on.”

“How does it affect our magic?” Neville said.

McGonagall took a breath like she tended to do before a lecture in class and said, “Soulmates aren’t that common, but there are a few books that should be able to answer most questions in more detail. What I can tell you is that soulmates can combine their magic for spells. Additionally, locator spells cast by one to find the other are more reliable. Naturally, this needs to be practiced and it is different for every couple depending on their strengths, weaknesses and amount of magic available to them. For example, if both of you have a talent for transfiguration the combination while transfiguring an object would be a lot stronger than if only one or neither of you had the talent.”

“I will see about getting permission for additional tutoring during the holidays. The more practice the better and it can only be useful to do it while your magic is still developing. It shouldn’t affect your school work though,” Augusta said. Turning to Harry she continued, “I will discuss this with your guardians of course. You surely want to spend time together during the holidays as well.”

Harry swallowed. He could just imagine the disaster that would follow if Augusta Longbottom met the Dursleys. Hesitantly, Harry said, “Well..., my relatives aren’t exactly fond of magic. I didn’t even know I was a wizard until Hagrid gave me my letter. They had tried to outrun them until he found us on an island with just an old, shabby hut.”

“Outrun them?” McGonagall said with a frown. “I remember the night you were placed with them and although I had my reservations I had assumed that the letter that had been left with you would have made them understand that you would be attending Hogwarts. I had also believed that Albus would talk with them about that once you had settled in.”

“Uncle Vernon told Hagrid that they tried stamping it out… and well, Sirius is my godfather and you said he wanted to take me in. Doesn’t that mean he would be the person to talk with? I wrote him a letter asking about contracts and he said he knew that there was one, but not why or with whom,” Harry said. He had just wanted to avoid a disaster, not to get his relatives into trouble.

Sure, they hadn’t treated him well, but nobody had ever given them a choice in the matter. As long as he wouldn’t have to stay with them again, all would be fine.

The two witches still frowned, but at least they didn’t comment any further on the Dursleys. He had a feeling that it didn’t mean that they were willing to let the issue rest though.

Augusta finally nodded and said, “I will discuss it with your godfather then. What are your plans for this Christmas?”

“I had planned to stay at Hogwarts and maybe visit Sirius in St. Mungos if he’s still there,” Harry said.

Augusta nodded satisfied and said, “Then it won’t be a problem for you to join Neville at Longbottom Manor. I’m sure that a visit can be arranged and possibly even combined with our visit to Neville’s parents.”

She didn’t mention anything about why Neville’s parents were at St. Mungos, but he could see her searching look. At his slight nod she seemed to realise that Neville had already told him about his parents.

The rest of the meeting was spent hatching out some smaller details. Augusta also promised them to purchase some books and send them.

They finally parted with the clear instruction to familiarise themselves with every single bit about the other. Augusta had been quite adamant that there shouldn’t be any secrets between them when it came to their past, present and plans for the future or in regards to their fears, hopes, dislikes and so on. Some secrets, like presents and small surprises, could naturally be kept secret, but knowing every bit about each other was supposed to be the first step.

The task wasn’t too difficult since they already knew a lot about each other. However, there were still some things that had never been discussed for the simple fact that they hadn’t been important to know in the fight against Voldemort.


	5. Chapter 4

Over the next couple of days they alternatively were inseparable or avoiding each other. Harry couldn’t believe that this was quickly becoming more difficult than battling Voldmort had ever been.

Harry spent more time with Ron, which made his friend happy, and studied a bit more, which made Ron less happy. Catching himself from telling Ron that learning all this was important, Harry wondered what he should tell Ron about the contract, let alone that Neville was his soulmate. More importantly, should he even tell Ron?

Pushing the thought aside, Harry vowed to talk with Neville after Potions on Friday when they had plenty of time.

~***~

As soon as they had arrived in the room of requirement it had turned into a smaller version of their common room. By unvoiced agreement they settled on the couch facing the fireplace.

Harry asked, “What are we going to tell everybody? Everything? Just about the contract? And when do we tell them?”

“Well, I guess we can tell our friends about the contract first. The rest might be a bit much for now. I mean how do you think we would have reacted if we hadn’t known already or really had been 11?” Neville said.

Harry nodded thoughtfully. He probably would have rebelled. He would have been more fixated on Neville being a guy and about not being gay… He would have resented it back then. Granted, the rejection of it would have been less drastic a couple of years later on, because at least then he started to consider dating and so on.

Neville said, “The rest can find out on their own. We won’t hide it, but won’t tell them either.”

Harry nodded in agreement. It sounded like a good plan and it meant one thing was out of the way. Now there was only one thing left that they could do away from prying eyes and ears.

When Harry still hadn’t said anything else, Neville realised that he would have to be the more courageous one this time. He knew that Harry probably had more demons in his childhood, what little he had heard about the Dursleys assured him of that.

“You know, when I was young I wanted to be a herbologist. Well, I still want to do it if things work out. I always wanted to take care of saplings and supplementing potion ingredients – especially for healing potions – and of course studying rare plants.”

No reaction.

Deciding to try a different topic, Neville admitted for possibly the first time in his life, “Visiting my parents used to scare me.”

Finally Harry turned to Neville and said in an emotionless voice, “I’ve never been to my parents’ grave.”

“Never?”

“I don’t think my aunt and uncle knew or cared where they were buried. Even if they had known, they probably wouldn’t have taken me. Nobody else really talks about them aside from telling me how much I look like them and how great and kind they were. There just never seemed to be time to either talk about them or visit the graves. I mean, Remus Lupin told me some things in third year, but it’s not as if they really wanted me to leave the castle back then.”

Neville nodded in understanding and said, “Maybe I can ask my gran if she would take us – or just you if you’d prefer to go alone.”

“I’m going to visit you parents’ with you, right? So it should be fine if you came with me as well,” Harry said.

“Well, but I’ve been there before. I just thought that maybe you wanted to be alone for the first time.”

Harry shrugged. After a moment he said, “I think I don’t want to be alone.”

The first topic out of the way, Harry warmed up to the talking and said, “I never really thought about what I wanted to be. In fifth year I told McGonagall that I wanted to be an Auror, but it was more because I lacked a real idea of what I want to be than wanting to become one.”

Several hours later they returned to the common room, just in time for curfew. Hermione was already waiting for them. She seemed nervous and a little unsure of herself.

“I wanted to apologize for the way I acted. You’re right. I was going the wrong way about making friends and didn’t realize that I was actually alienating everybody. I guess I never realised how it made others feel when I corrected them – I just knew how frustrated I felt that they didn’t know when it seemed so simple to me,” Hermione said. “The same goes for being jealous of you being better than me in some cases. It’s new to me and…”

“I understand and accept your apology. So much is different to the Muggle world and it takes some getting used to on top of everything else. I dare say Neville and I have a more practical approach while yours is more from the theory side, which explains why we get the practical more quickly in some instances. I bet you’re way better with the theory though,” Harry said.

Hermione nodded in understanding and relief. She clearly had expected it to be more difficult.

After a moment, Harry said, “I think I should apologize to you as well. Although you probably needed to hear how your behaviour made other people feel, I could have done so in a nicer and less insulting way.”

Once again Hermione nodded in acceptance. The way she held herself told Harry that she wasn’t done yet, so instead of moving passed her, he waited for her to continue.

“I – do you think we could be friends or maybe study together on occasion?” Hermione finally said.

Smiling at her shy question, Harry replied, “Sure.”

For the first time in the entire conversation, Hermione smiled as well before bidding them good night and heading to the stairs leading up to the girls’ dormitories.

Harry grinned at Neville and said, “She might not turn into the same friend the Hermione we knew was, but she will find a place for herself that will make her happy and doesn’t leave her friendless.”

“Yes and in her own way she’ll just worm another place into your heart,” Neville replied with a grin of his own.

~***~

The time until Christmas sped by in a blur. He wrote the occasional letter to Sirius in a bid to get to know him, worked on his friendship with Hermione and Ron (who grudgingly started to get along) and on his relationship with Neville. While talking with Hermione and Ron, especially with both at the same time, was frustrating, talking with Neville was the most difficult part.

There were so many things he had never told anybody be it out of shame or lack of opportunity. He found it incredibly difficult to accept that there was opportunity now and that it was necessary.

The book Augusta had sent them had also said the very same thing: There should not be any secrets between them as they could harm the bond and hamper the way their magic worked together once they got to that point again.

So far they had covered accidental magic as children – including the incident when he had blown up Marge Dursley – and what they wanted to do after graduating. Academically and job wise that is. They hadn’t covered the family aspect yet.

Talking about jobs had also let to discussing their classes. Although they knew their strength and weakness class wise, there were still the elective classes they started in third year. One thing was for sure: neither of them cared to take Divination again.

Harry had also shared most of the details from the adventures he had gotten into in the original time line, at least as much as he could remember. Some details had already been added to what Neville knew from the stories going around at the time while they had prepared to go back, but the focus had been on slightly different things.

~***~

The day the sign ups for Christmas holidays were put up, Harry pulled all of the people he thought should be told about the contract personally. This included all of the boys in their dorm and Hermione. He did consider Parvati and Lavender since they were the only ones left out from their year, but had less to do with them on a day to day basis. Surely it would be enough if Hermione told them? On the other hand, it felt also felt a bit like excluding them from their year since he would put them on the same level as Dean and Seamus when it came to classing friends. However, Dean and Seamus were there because they shared a dorm.

Once everybody was present, Neville said, “This isn’t a secret, but we decided not to spread it around too much for now.”

“As a matter of fact, you’re free to tell Parvati and Lavender. We decided that we should tell all of you in person since we’re sharing a dorm and Hermione since she’s our friend as well,” Harry said.

Ron, who was clearly anxious about what would be said, asked, “What’s going on?”

“The thing is my gran came over some time ago since after her initial assurance that there wasn’t a contract, she did fine one after all.”

“What does that have to do with Harry?” Dean said confusion clearly visible on his face.

Harry swallowed nervously, throwing a quick look to Neville, before saying, “Well, the contract was made with my parents meaning Neville and I are practically engaged.”

“Wow, wait – Neville and you?!” Ron said in shock.

Hermione frowned and said, “But you’re both boys.”

“That apparently doesn’t matter in the wizarding world,” Harry said with a crooked smile. He had had a similar thought initially after all.

Hermione stuttered, “But...”

“Everything’s possible with magic. We’ve just started scratching the surface of what the wizarding world can do. Why is it so hard to believe?” Harry said.

That shut Hermione effectively up, although Harry was sure that the future included the library to research that topic.

“So that’s why you’ve been disappearing together lately?” Ron said, although Harry wasn’t entirely sure what Ron thought they did.

Neville answered, “My gran said that we should get to know each other better – things about our childhood, dreams and so on. That’s why he’ll be joining me at my home this Christmas. My gran wants to get to know him as well.”

“Does it say anything about when you have to married or so?” Seams asked.

Neville shrugged, “We haven’t been told much, but I don’t think it includes any set dates or other restrictions.”

From there on, a couple of more questions were asked about the contract itself, which had been free of restrictions aside from the fact that they were bound together. Not that they had officially been told that yet.

Surprisingly, after they had told everybody about the contract, Ron became way more relaxed about the time he spent with Neville. It was almost as if he now viewed Neville as less of a rival in the friend aspect since he obviously had a different role to fill.


	6. Chapter 5 - Christmas

The Christmas holidays started with excitement. Aside from his fifth year, he had always staid at Hogwarts. This time, he was also going to stay with some one he didn’t really know. Sure, Neville had told him plenty of things and he had met her twice in this time line, but none of theses things really told him how living with her would be.

When they arrived at King’s Cross Station, Harry was surprised to Sirius waiting next to Augusta. There hadn’t been any mention of him leaving St. Mungos so far and he had assumed that he would have to stay there beyond the holidays.

Harry had to stop himself from running to Sirius. For once, he had officially only seen a picture of him so far and the letters they had exchanged had mostly been to get to know each other and not to build a strong friendship – that could only happen while meeting in person when they couldn’t think about every reply in depth beforehand.

Instead, he followed Neville’s example of calmly walking over. Clearly, Augusta Longbottom was a big fan of sophistication and less rampageous displays of emotion.

“Hello Gran,” Neville said and a second later Harry followed, “Hello Mrs. Longbottom.”

“Hello Neville, Harry. As you can see, Sirius Black here has been released into my care yesterday,” Augusta said, pointing to Sirius who instantly stepped forward.

“Hello,” Neville and Harry said together with a smile. This was unexpected, but not unwanted.

Sirius greeted them back, but before anything else could be said, Augusta pulled out a little book and said, “We’ll be leaving by portkey. Please hold onto it.”

As Harry touched it, he wondered if he should perfect it on his first go – he had learned to travel by portkey eventually in the past – or pretend to do badly because it was the first time he travelled by portkey in this time. Before he could decide though, the portkey deposited them in a beautiful garden and his distraction assured that he didn’t stay upright.

Instead of anybody laughing at him, Sirius simply said, “I guess we’ll have to teach you how to get along with all kinds of magical transportation. Aside from riding a broom that is.”

“Yeah. That might be better,” Harry agreed as Neville helped him up. He took a quick glance around and saw a greenhouse to the side. He assumed that it was the one Neville had told him about. Longbottom Manor right in front of him was impressive, but not overly large. As a matter of fact, the most impressive part was the intricate design of the faced and not the size in itself.

As soon as they entered the building Augusta called a house elf to take care of the luggage. Once that was done, she turned back to Neville, “Harry will be staying in your room and you can give him a tour after dinner. For now you should freshen up before coming down. Dinner will be served shortly.”

The exchange was a bit less formal than it had been whenever they were in public and Harry could see that she did love her grandson. Protocol and formal life just seemed to stiffen her. Or maybe it was the losses she had to suffer. Either way, there seemed to be a lot of love for Neville that was swimming just beneath the surface.

Without much ado, Neville lead Harry upstairs and soon they were sitting down for dinner. With their plan slightly changed, they had agreed that they would share everything with Sirius tonight. That is, Harry would while Neville made sure nobody would realise he was out of bed.

Dinner was packed with conversation about their bond, the contract and their progress in getting to know each other. Both Sirius and Augusta were pleased with them and assured them that things they didn’t talk about because they just forgot about them wouldn’t have a big influence on the bond. Deliberately holding things back was the problem. Not to mention that they had years to think about the little details that just wouldn’t come right now. If they were important they would eventually talk about them.

Augusta also had another book for them to read. This time with little things they could do to strengthen their bond. These things ranged from holding hands, kissing and doing other stuff when they were older to trying to cast spells together on the same object to one of them casting the spell with the other holding their hand trying to pass their own magic through the physical contact. Once the last part worked successfully they could try passing on magic with less physical contact until it wasn’t needed anymore.

It promised years of work, even with their already partially developed bond from before they went back in time. They just had to hope that they had at least as much time before Voldemort managed to regain physical form as they originally had. Unless of course they managed it before through a spur of luck, but they were far too experienced to believe in that kind of luck.

Sirius offered to help them with his own repertoire of spells. Most of them were harmless prank spells and presented no danger when experimenting with them. Unless you counted changing the colour of various body parts or bursting into song or poems as harmful that is.

Finally it was time for them to head to bed and be blissfully on their own. They desperately needed to change their plans for the holidays. Sirius would obviously find out about the future sooner than anticipated. This also meant that their plans for the time until Sirius was released were in need of changing.

So far they had planned to talk most of the day they didn’t spent training their bond under the tutelage of Augusta or whoever she found to teach them. Once Sirius was with them and knew the truth they had scheduled most of the time to training and plotting other things with his help.

While it was great that they could start plotting and training sooner, they knew that they couldn’t just drop the talking time. Not with the amount of progress they had already made, covering most of their past up to their time travel and quite a few plans and hopes for the future beyond defeating Voldemort early on. Professionally speaking they had even agreed on a course of action.

Harry, deciding that he didn’t want to keep on fighting once Voldemort was taken care of, thought the most likely profession for him would still involve Defence Against the Dark Arts. Teaching the Defence club in their fifth year and shown him that he was good at teaching and once he had gotten over his initial apprehension had even started to enjoy it. Teaching it at Hogwarts for real would certainly be wonderful, especially since he already considered the castle his home.

Neville thought in a similar way when it came to leaving Hogwarts. It was too beautiful a place to really leave and coupled with the fact that Hogwarts had one of Britain’s best kept plant nurseries it created a big motivation to stay behind. The only thing he was apprehensive about was the actual teaching. The last couple of years of fighting might have given him plenty of self confidence, but that didn’t mean it would work facing a classroom eventually. Still, the thought of having Harry around helped immensely with that thought.

While they hatched their new plans, both kept a close eye on the clock. Neville knew that his grandmother tended to retire between eleven and midnight and it would be dangerous to sneak out before then. They only hoped that Sirius was well enough to be awake this late as well or would at the very least not suffer from being woken in the middle of the night.

Finally it was time. Harry had decided to go alone, to use this time for further bonding with his godfather, but now he wasn’t so certain. He longed for the support of Neville. A second later it dawned on him that this was their bond. For the first time since they had come back in time, he could feel the physical effects of the bond. Namely the separation anxiety they knew they would eventually feel. To them it wasn’t just mental, but one of the strongest physical manifestations this early in their bonding. The other manifestations obviously were on a more sexual basis, but they were too young for that part yet and their physical bodies did limit how far the bond could go for now.

Taking a deep breath, Harry turned back to Neville once more who was preparing his bed to look as if someone was sleeping in it. They had never actually voiced it, not once between originally finding out and travelling back in time nor in all their time at Hogwarts, but he suddenly longed to call out “I love you” in parting. It was eerie to suddenly feel like this. Never before had he really wanted to say it. Even when he was with Ginny it was something he only rarely said out loud.

It was almost as if he was walking to his doom and he needed Neville to know how he felt.

Only he wasn’t walking to his doom. He was going to talk with Sirius. Taking another deep breath Harry reminded himself that sooner or later they would have to discuss this. It was one of the two things they hadn’t talked about yet. How they actually felt right now about each other and what they wanted from their future when it came to their private life.

“See you later,” Harry finally muttered and stole out of the room. Now wasn’t the time. If he said anything right now they would have to discuss it soon and Sirius would be coming first for now.

As he stood in front of Sirius’ door, Neville had made sure to show him the shortest way, Harry finally agreed that they would have to discuss it no matter if he had said anything as he left or not. It wasn’t as if a whole lot of other topics still needed to be discussed.

Knocking quietly on the door, Harry debated if he should enter or not. On one hand, he didn’t want to intrude this early on. He might know Sirius well enough to be comfortable doing so, but Sirius might not know him well enough to feel comfortable with it. On the other hand, the longer he stood in the hall, the more likely it was that someone would catch him.

Taking all his Gryffindor bravery, Harry eventually opened the door. Peaking in, he could see Sirius sitting on the bed, the cover pulled up halfway and the eyes focused on the door. Clearly he had heard the knock, but it might have been quiet enough that he hadn’t been sure if it was real. Entering the room completely, Harry closed the door behind him.

Nervously he walked over to the bed until he was standing right in front of Sirius. His godfather hadn’t taken his eyes off of him during the entire time. It was almost as if he knew that there was more about this visit, more than he really wanted to know and for the first time Harry wondered if this truly was the right decision. Sirius had been crushed knowing that he missed 13 years of his life the first time around. So far, it had only been a bit over ten, but finding out that it had been so many more in truth?

Still, there was no going back and showing this kind of trust in Sirius would surely help.

Harry slowly climbed onto the bed and hugged Sirius. Once they were both in a comfortable position, he started, “There’s something I have to tell you. Nobody can really know aside from the Goblins. They kind of already know anyway.”

There was no reaction from Sirius, so Harry continued, “This might hurt you, but… I know I can trust you with this.”

Harry felt Sirius tense in anticipation of being hurt. He knew that his godfather feared rejection above all. There wasn’t a whole lot that could say otherwise logically.

“Neville and I travelled back in time. Right after we defeated Voldemort,” Harry said, looking up at Sirius to gauge his reaction.

There was no way he could miss the pain in Sirius eyes as he replied, “You’re not really eleven? I missed so many more years? How many?”

“It doesn’t matter. You managed to escape Azkaban before my third year and at the end of that year I knew the truth. Moony, too. He had taught Defence that year. Unfortunately, Pettigrew had managed to escape and you couldn’t prove your innocent to anybody and remained on the run. A year later, Voldemort managed to regain corporal form again. The war that followed was horrible. Eventually everybody chose a side upon graduation and we only won since there was nobody else left on Voldemorts side. It wasn’t a victory.”

“That’s why you decided to come back? What about your bond with Neville?” Sirius asked, clearly pained at what he had been told.

“We never knew until... we found out too late to really train our bond beyond a few defensive tricks. There was nobody that could have told us left,” Harry said.

Sirius closed his eyes and Harry had a feeling that he knew that they never had a whole lot of time together. A moment later, Sirius opened his eyes again and said, “If you hadn’t asked and found out, I would have waited until you were done with your OWLs. I...”

A cold shiver engulfed Harry. They had been so close to knowing in time.

“Voldemort and I share a connection. I sometimes saw what he was up to, what I didn’t know was that he also knew about the connection and was sending me visions. During my History OWL, he sent one to let me know Death Eaters had you in the Hall of Prophecies. My friends and I went to rescue you... only to find out that you weren’t there at all. You eventually came with the Order to rescue us and... You fought with Bellatrix Lestrange and she hit you with a stunner, making you fall into the Veil.”

One look told Harry that Sirius knew exactly what Veil he was talking about.

“And I never got to tell you, but shouldn't you have developed feelings for him and realized it that way?”

Harry shook his head sadly and said, “Someone gave me love potion to fall in love with Ginny Weasley. Whatever I had started feeling for him, it never got a chance to develop. Not even after we had found out about the contract as we were far too busy fighting by then. It doesn’t help that I don’t know who gave me that potion or why. I only found out a week after my wedding was crashed by Death Eaters and most of the guests died.”

Harry felt Sirius hugging him close and relished in the feeling. This was what he had been missing all those years.

“Sirius, I only ever had two years with you and this is my chance to have so much more with you. I’m not just the older version of me. I merged with my younger and this does affect Neville and me. We’re not horny young adults hindered by our bodies. Our emotions did settle at an age appropriate level. Maybe we’re a bit further along than we originally were, but far from what we were in the past. I will still need your guidance in so many things and as soon as I got that package from Gringotts again with the letter and the photographs I knew that I had to get you free as soon as possible. I mean, it was in our plans to speed this up, make it official, but we hadn’t expected for it to be this soon.”

“Thank you, thank you for wanting me.”

“Sirius, I hardly knew you when you offered me to come live with you the first time we met. It had been less than ideal, but I never had to think about saying yes. The Dursleys don’t want me, they don’t want magic and they made me miss out on so many things you can help me catch up with. Naturally, telling you all this isn’t just for your benefit. We don’t plan on telling Mrs. Longbottom.”

Harry could feel Sirius take a deep breath at that revelation. A moment later, Sirius said, “What help do you need?”

“We know a bit about how he survived and naturally, we also know who will keep on supporting him and so on. You can help us take care of those things while we’re at Hogwarts. Not to mention that we aren’t allowed to do magic outside of Hogwarts aside from training our bond under supervision. Aside from all that... I might be comfortable with Neville, I might even... I don’t know what to do about how I feel about him. I probably could use your advice there as well.”

Sirius laughed in return. A moment later, he said, “I think I can manage that.”

Right away, Harry knew that this was a good start. Sirius would probably still have a hard time accepting all the things he missed, but at least he knew that there were plenty of things to come. Now that he had told him everything he had planned to, it was time to go back. A part of him wanted to go back and just be close to Neville. The other part wanted to stay and bask in this comfortable companionship.

“Sirius,” Harry started only to break off again. He wanted to say this and at the same time he didn’t.

Sirius obviously caught his hesitant mood, a sharp contrast to the relaxed one before, and said, “What is it?”

“Before I left to come here, I felt like saying something to Neville. I just felt so... I didn’t say it. I never had before despite what our relationship will be,” Harry said, avoiding looking at Sirius. “We haven’t even discussed our feelings or what we hope our relationship will be like. I mean, we did discuss our future, but more on an academic and job related level.”

“I never really had a serious relationship. I was more of a short term guy, but I could watch your parents. Your father insisted he loved your mother early on, probably as early as our first year. Your mother in turn never returned those feelings until our last year at Hogwarts. I know we weren’t entirely blameless for that. She was good friends with Severus Snape and... I dare say your father did it out of jealousy, but I did it just because he was a Slytherin. He represented everything I hated and your father just helped me focus it on one of them. We constantly pranked him until it turned to hate on both sides. Your mother was practically caught between the lines,” Sirius said.

Harry swallowed; he had known some of those things already. However he hadn’t expected this version of his godfather to see it for what it was. There was still too much hate left. What had changed for this honest introspection? At the same time, it was more information and therefore more understanding about what happened back then.

Slowly, Harry said, “Even if she did start loving him, she would have denied it out of loyalty to her friend.”

Sirius nodded before taking a deep breath, “James was named Head Boy in our last year. No idea how that happened, but he did eventually start to stop pranking. Well, stopping is the wrong word. We still did plenty of that, but Snape wasn’t the main target any more and we did less overall what with everything else that kept us busy. And by then her friendship with Snape was over. He had hurt her badly at the end of our fifth year.”

“I know. I’ve seen that in his pensive when he tried to teach me Occlumency. Tried being the keyword. We didn’t really get along. Still don’t,” Harry said.

After a moment Sirius said, “As for Neville, just follow your feelings. You have a huge advantage already as you know he won’t leave you. Sooner or later you will take the next step and verbalise it. Then there will be little shows of affection, holding hands and small gifts and so and with every small step you’ll be strengthening your relationship. I’ve seen it happen after all.”

“With my parents?” Harry said, looking up for the first time since the change in topic.

Sirius smiled for a moment, staring into a dark corner of the room. A moment later said, “I’ve seen it with several couples that ended up married, but your parents were probably the one where I noticed it the most, what with your father being my best friend.”

“Now I believe it’s time for us to sleep. I’m still recovering and you did mention your body wasn’t overly affected by the time travel,” Sirius said suddenly.

Harry nodded and said, “Yes. It’s mostly our minds and partially our magic that merged with our past versions. I... thank you for talking with me and taking everything so calmly.”

“Always. No matter what, you’re still my godson and I do hope you will tell me more about your past. Everything I missed and so on,” Sirius grinned as he said this and Harry couldn’t help but return it.

“Of course.”

Hugging Sirius one last time, Harry got out of the bed and walked to the door. One last look and a wink and he left through the door. The hallway was dark and nobody was around to see his huge grin or the way he giddily walked back to the room he shared with Neville. The talk had gone way better than he had imagined it and he felt better about starting his relationship with Neville. So far, what they shared was mostly friendship. They couldn’t call it anything else with the way they acted around each other most of the time, but it was time to take another step forward.

As soon as he reached Neville’s room, he sneaked in. To his surprise, Neville had fallen asleep. Stealing a glance at the clock, he noticed that he had been gone longer than he had thought.

Looking at his bed, he decided to follow Sirius’ advice and follow his feelings. It didn’t take him long to dismantle his alibi and once he was done, he turned around to Neville’s bed and crawled into it. He felt like being close to Neville. He wanted to hold him.

Once he was comfortably spooned behind Neville, Harry let exhaustion he hadn’t let himself feel so far take over and pull him into a happy and carefree sleep.


	7. Chapter 6

The following day, training started. It was exhilarating, frustrating and at times a whole lot of fun. Initially, they made a lot of progress according to Augusta, but they knew better. The majority of the progress was actually what they had managed to do before they came back. Since they hadn’t tried it after they arrived, they needed to get their bodies and magic used to it again, like everything else, but it didn’t give them as much trouble as learning it for the first time had.

After they had reached the point they had been at previously, progress stopped until it was nothing more than a crawl. If at that. At one point Harry wondered how they would have taken that if they hadn’t already been used to that speed from their previous attempts.

The only progress they really made was in their talks. They finally had managed to talk about what they wanted family wise. Harry had assumed that there weren’t that many options, considering that they were both male, but once he brought up children, Neville was quick to inform him that there were plenty of potions and spells to take care of that. They wouldn’t need to adopt to have children of their own. That didn’t mean they would discount that option.

That one bit had actually gotten the entire discussion rolling. They both could see a nice cottage somewhere – for the holidays should they really be teaching at Hogwarts – with frequent visits to and from Sirius and Augusta along with two children. The number wasn’t set in stone. Both decided more than one child would be lovely, but that they probably wouldn’t be able to handle raising as many children as the Weasleys. So for now, two sounded ideal. Not to mention that they would have at least ten years before it even came to that. The detailed planning would wait for that time and it was a long time to change their minds about some things.

They also decided not to talk about their current feelings. That didn’t mean they would avoid them, just that they wanted their relationship to evolve normally and that included acting on instinct and not a discussion about how they probably should feel. They both had a feeling that a discussion might have just led to that. Besides, they did well so far. Right now they did wonderful expressing themselves through actions. Mostly. Words would follow once they were ready and it wouldn’t matter if there were months between one being ready and the other following suit or if both felt it at the same time.

Aside from the training and their talks, they also found time to talk with Augusta. This was mostly Harry getting to know her and the other way around, but Harry did have a few things to say about Neville’s upbringing and what they did. That is to say, Harry kept Neville’s confidence mostly, but mentioned how certain incidences and believes might have hurt Neville’s self confidence so much that he believed he would fail at doing magic. It’s not as if anybody expected him not to. It wasn’t really true any more as Neville had gotten over that and it showed, but once upon a time it had been true and it had driven a wedge between them that hadn’t managed to heal by the time Augusta had died in the war. This was a second chance for more than just defeating Voldemort after all.

They also managed to talk with Sirius privately and shared several stories about their time before the time travel. Most of the stories were the fun parts, to keep him happy, but they did tell him about what happened in their original first year. During the summer they would do the same for the second year, but it was easier taking this one year at a time to see what was changed by their actions.

~***~

Before they knew it, the holidays were over and they were back at Hogwarts. To their displeasure, Ron and the Twins had found out about the dog and the trapdoor, making it harder to keep them from trouble. However, with the help of Hermione they did manage to keep them from finding out too much. Hagrid didn’t manage to drop the name Nicolas Flamel and after Hermione had researched the Cerberus was very willing to share all the gruesome details. This had the effect of deterring Ron from going on.

Shortly after the break, Harry also found himself standing in front of the Mirror of Erised. This time they didn’t just display his parents and the rest of his dead family behind them. Neville was standing right next to him, they were holding hands and as old as they had been before they came back. It took him a moment to realise there was a head with wild black hair peeking out from behind his head.

It was a happy image, but it didn’t have the same pull as it once had because he knew that at least a part of this image had a good chance of becoming reality. With his hand hovering just in front of the mirror he frowned. This had been moved before the end of the winter holidays the last time, so why was it still here? With a sinking stomach, Harry wondered if Dumbledore had wanted him to know how this mirror worked, if he had known about what would happen at the end of the school year.

Harry shook his head. It didn’t matter what Dumbledore had planned. They had a better plan and Dumbledore had always tried to act in the best interest of everyone. He wasn’t their enemy, just an old man that might have lost sight of the details. He was on their side even though he might not actually be an ally. Some things had to happen for that first.

With that his thoughts returned to the stone and how they needed to protect it better than it currently was. No matter what Dumbledore might have had in mind, with Voldemort in the school the stone was in danger.

Not a second after he had thought that, he felt something in his pocket. It reminded him eerily of the last time he had looked at the mirror when he had suddenly found the stone in his pocket. A quick peek later and his thoughts were confirmed. The stone was in his pocket.

Taking a deep breath, Harry tried to calm his nerves. This was a disaster. Now the stone was in even more danger. There was only one thing left they could do: getting the stone out of the castle.

Without a second thought, Harry turned around and headed straight to the owlery.

Once he had arrived there, he called to Hedwig. Snatching his book bag up, he pulled out a piece of parchment and wrote a quick note for Neville. He needed a small bag to transport the stone in and even though his transfiguration could hold during the war, he had never tested the duration of his transfigurated or conjured objects and this was far too precious to try.

He didn’t have to wait long after sending Hedwig off and it appeared that Neville had actually been in their dorm room to begin with. There was no note accompanying the small bag that he knew had contained coins previously. It had been only a bit of money that they had gotten for the train ride back to Hogwarts after the holidays and for the ride back home at the end of the year. This also meant that it was just the right size for the stone and nobody would think twice about it. People did use those bags to send payments for owl orders after all.

Without flourish, Harry pulled the stone out of his pocket and put it into the bag before using the rest of the parchment to write a note to Sirius explaining him what this was and that this needed to be returned to Nicolas Flamel.

Once he couldn’t see Hedwig any more, Harry took some time to calm down. He couldn’t let anybody see how out of it he was or they would suspect something. The worst that could happen was Voldemort realising what was up. He could handle Dumbledore finding out, but if Voldemort even suspected something things could go wrong very fast.

He needed to talk with Neville, but first he needed to get to him.

After a moment, Harry took a deep breath and slowly walked back to the dorms where Neville was surely waiting for an explanation.

As soon as he saw Neville alone in the room, the other three sitting in the common room working on homework, Harry blurted out, “I love you.”

It wasn’t what he had meant to say. He hadn’t even known he was going to say it until the words left his mouth, but he knew that he needed to say it after what had just happened. Neville simply hugged him and there was a whispered, “Me too.”

They didn’t say anything for a couple of moments, before Harry finally caught himself and managed to say, “I saw the Mirror of Erised and suddenly the stone was in my pocket.”

“Shit,” Neville said as he pulled back, his eyes were wide in surprise.

There was no need to explain the bag, so Harry simply said, “I sent it to Sirius with instructions to keep it safe and somehow get it to Nicolas Flamel.”

Neville nodded in understanding, most likely already having figured that out. Why else would he need a small bag after all other then sending the stone somewhere?

“It was beautiful. I didn’t just see my parents. I also saw us,” Harry said, overwhelmed by the feeling all over again and he knew that this feeling had caused his outburst earlier.

Neville grinned in return and said, “Anything else? I mean...”

“We were as old as when we came back and I think there was someone hiding behind us...,” Harry said. The last part only hinting at the truth, but Neville caught on nonetheless, grinning even more.

Together they sat on the bed and just hugged each other. This moment was just perfect. The biggest danger of the year was gone and they were just happy. It was as if nothing could destroy their moment. Sure, there was still the danger of Voldemort at Hogwarts, but for right now he couldn’t get to his immortality and that was all that mattered right now.

~***~

The rest of the year went surprisingly normal. Nothing happened and nobody got into any kind of danger. Sure there was some note of Quirrell being possessed and standing in front of a mirror somewhere and a team of specialists coming in for an exorcism, shortly before the finals, but nothing else.

Well, if you discounted the fact that Harry actually managed to attend the last Quidditch game and Gryffindor winning it. With no points lost for being caught out after hours and no points rewarded last minute the atmosphere at the feat, Gryffindor having been tied with Slytherin, was rather good.

The End


End file.
